Comment

Wallingford's Mike Chapman (with ball), Matt Chapman (left) and Paul Lewis all start against Wootton Bassett

Southern Counties play-off

Wallingford coach Chris Norrington says victory at home to Wootton Bassett tomorrow (3) would be a far greater achievement than last year's romp to the title.

Norrington's side may have won the BB&O Premier Division in 2007 without dropping a point.

But he believes securing promotion from Southern Counties North to South West 2 East would raise the bar considerably.

"It would be a bigger and better achievement definitely as we were a good team in a weak league last year," said Norrington.

"But that can't be said this year.

"This is our reward for the effort the lads have put in.

"We were a little surprised at where we were mid-season, but we had a chat and decided to go for it.

"We will be putting everything into the game on Saturday."

Wallingford stick with the side that defeated Milton Keynes in last week's final league game.

This means Henry Pooler starts at fly half with full back Henry Venners set to retain the kicking duties.

Southern Counties South runners-up Wootton Bassett lost to Tadley in the equivalent play-off last year.

To win this time they will need to break Wallingford's unbeaten home run, which has remained intact for two and a half years.

Norrington said: "I don't want to put extra pressure on the players about home advantage.

"But it has become a bit of a fortress and we want to keep it that way."

"We are just focusing on our game, and if we can play to near our best it should be good enough."

Henley Hawks' final National 2 game of the season at Cambridge will be a bitter-sweet one for No 8 Dave Archer.

Archer, who has been at Henley for four years, is playing his last match before joining ambitious Cambridge, who are much closer to his Hertfordshire home.

Relegated Hawks are set to be without three first-choice forwards.

Lock Rob Hurrell (twisted knee) and flanker Matt Payne (ankle) are fighting to be fit, while hooker Liam Wordley is definitely out after losing the tip of a finger in a domestic accident.

On the plus side, flanker Stean Williams has fully recovered after several weeks sidelined with a neck injury.

Wallingford (v Wootton Bassett, home): Venners, R Turner, Collett, Holton, Risk, Pooler, Viljoen. Blaszko (capt), Hill, Jenkins, M Turner, Lewis, Ma Chapman, Mi Chapman, Jeffrey. Reps: Broome, S Henderson, Strang.

Henley Hawks (v Cambridge, away): from Simmons, Wells, Flammia, T Burns, L Burns, Loubser, Sweeney, Farndon, Gaunt, Grant, Dere, Fuller, Muggridge, Le Chevalier, Howick, Ellis, Winterbottom, Hurrell, Payne (capt), Hulland, Williams, Archer.

4:59pm Thursday 24th April 2008

Print

Email this

Comment

Add your comment

Name:
Email: *
Location:
**
	e.g. 123-123
Comment: Please note: All HTML tags will be ignored. Format Text:
By posting a comment, I confirm that I have read and agree to the terms of use. Comments are not moderated but we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention and we may delete inappropriate postings. Please treat other people with respect. You must not post anything that is abusive, indecent, unlawful or defamatory. Remember, you are personally liable for what you post on this site. If you wish to complain about a comment, contact us here.
* Your email address will not be displayed ** To avoid register now or login